World News - Man Who Won HGTV Dream Home Says It's Too Costly to Live in It

Thanks, but no thanks. Donald P. Cook, who won HGTV's 5,700-square-foot Dream Home in April, says he's selling the house. The annual $19,396 tax bill plus maintenance costs are too much for the state auditor from Alum Creek, W.Va. Cook plans to live in the house near Asheville, N.C., for a few weeks then sell it. The home overlooks Lake Lure in Rutherford County and has been assessed at slightly more than $3 million... http://abcnews.go.com

Iran closed down two opposition newspapers on Monday, one of which had recently poked fun at hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the way his government has handled nuclear talks with the West. It was a fresh show of determination by Iran's ruling clerical establishment to silence dissent over its handling of nuclear talks with the West and deny reformers a chance to air their views ahead of elections scheduled for Dec. 15. The rights group Reporters Without Borders voiced concern last week about harassment of Iranian journalists, including prison sentences and interrogations. Ahmadinejad has purged dozens of journalists, university professors and government officials seen as supporting warmer ties with the West. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2420590

after an ex-spy chief's apparent suicide, Uruguay arrested seven former army and police officers Monday in an investigation of dissidents who disappeared during the South American country's military rule in the 1970s, an official said. The ex-officers were awaiting questioning under heavy security at a police jail, said Raul Oxandabarat, a spokesman at Judge Luis Charles' court. Another former military officer wanted by the court was reported to be a fugitive. Charles is investigating the kidnapping and disappearance of several Uruguayans in neighboring Argentina in the 1970s, when allied military governments coordinated crackdowns on dissent. On Sunday, former army officer and defense intelligence chief Rodriguez Buratti was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in an apparent suicide, Uruguayan media reported. He was also to be summoned before Charles' court. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2422325

German criticism of US policy: Interior Minister Schäuble warns against giving up fundamental rights in the fight against terror. And Chancellor Merkel says the ends do not justify the means. According to the German government the fight against terrorism cannot be fought using military means alone. "Apart from determination and international unity, respect for international law, tolerance and respect for other cultures should be the maxims of our actions," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement released on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Islamic motivated terrorism can only be successfully fought, "if we encourage the democratic and economic development in the affected crisis regions and achieve more respect for human rights," the statement continued. The example of Afghanistan shows that in certain cases, the use of military force is unavoidable. However, even in the fight against terrorism, "the ends cannot be used to justify the means."...http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,436459,00.html

A federal appeals court panel upheld a contempt of court citation Monday against a freelance journalist who is refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating an anarchists' protest he videotaped. A federal grand jury subpoenaed Joshua Wolf for the 30 minutes of unpublished material, but he refused and was ordered jailed Aug. 1. He was released a month later as he appealed his case. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a 1972 Supreme Court precedent requires everyone, including journalists, to appear before grand juries if summoned. "The Supreme Court has declined to interpret the First Amendment to 'grant newsmen a testimonial privilege that other citizens do not enjoy,'" a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appeals court wrote. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2420588

Government attorneys said Monday that U.S. courts have no authority to stop the military from transferring an American citizen to an Iraqi court to face charges he supported terrorists and insurgents. It's the latest legal challenge to the Bush administration's authority to keep terrorism cases, even those involving U.S. citizens, out of American courts. Shawqi Omar, a citizen of both Jordan and the United States who once served in the Minnesota National Guard, was captured in Iraq in 2004. He is being held at Camp Bucca, a prison in southern Iraq, where his family says he has not been charged or allowed to speak with a lawyer. His family is demanding that Omar be brought before a U.S. court, where prosecutors would have to show probable cause for detaining him and he could consult with an attorney. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6072948,00.html